LOS ANGELES—Labor strikes in 2023 by WGA and SAG-AFTRA pushed L.A. film and TV production down by 36.4% in Q4 of 2023 year-over-year, and for all of 2023 was down by 32.4% YoY, according to a new report from FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions.
“History offers no point of comparison to the present,” observed FilmLA President Paul Audley. “The pandemic year aside, we have to look very far back – farther back than permit records allow – to find a time when production levels stayed so low, for so long.”
“Everyone we are speaking to is eager to see production resume,” Audley added, “Even as it does, we’ll remain in uncharted territory. We have months to go before we can describe what the new normal looks like for filming in LA.”
The report noted that the conclusion of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA work actions on September 27 and November 9, respectively, came too late for production to pick up by year’s end. Local on-location filming declined steeply in the fourth quarter, with 5,520 Shoot Days (SD) logged for a 36.4% decline against the same period in 2022.
Viewed on an annual basis, summing four consecutive quarters of double-digit decline, production activity fell by 32.4% year-over-year in 2023, to 24,873 SD.
After the near immediate return of some programming, including late night talk shows, in October, many hoped scripted television might return before the holidays. Once able to resume filming in November, only a handful of continuing series attempted new episodes, however. That left Television production was down 54.3% to 1,707 SD for the quarter, and down 43.8% to 9,430 SD for the year.
Most Television production that has taken place since May came from reality series, the report said.
The Reality TV category was down 29.2% in the fourth quarter to 1,425 SD and down 28.1% to 7,221 SD for the year. Nonetheless, Reality TV comprised 76.5% of all on-location Television production in 2023. Local reality productions included Dancing with the Stars (ABC), Death in the Dorms (Hulu), Master Chef (Fox), Selling Sunset (Netflix) and Murder in the Heartland (Investigation Discovery).
TV Drama production dropped a whopping 91.3% from October through December (101 SD in 2023 vs. 1,155 SD in 2022), and TV Comedy production dropped 85.6% (51 SD vs. 353 SD).
During that time, projects qualifying for the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program logged 25 SD. Dozens more qualified projects are expected to restart in January. The shows quickest to return to production included Loot (Apple TV+), The Family Business (BET+), Quantum Leap (NBC), The Rookie (ABC), S.W.A.T. (CBS), and Unstable (Netflix).
Feature film production also dropped steeply last quarter, with a 57.5% decrease to 323 SD. Most Feature projects in production this summer were smaller, independent productions, among a few moving forward under SAG-AFTRA interim agreements. Three independent Features in production last quarter were associated with the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program; the films Hurricana, Shell and Starstruck together generated a total of 28 SD.
Unaffected by the strikes but trending lower due to runway production, filming for web and television Commercials slipped last quarter with a 9.9% YoY drop to 746 SD. Commercials made in LA included automobile ads for BMW, Chevy, Honda, Lincoln, Nissan and Toyota. Retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and Walgreens also shot spots locally.
FilmLA’s “Other” category, which aggregates smaller, lower-cost shoots such as Still Photography, Student Films, Documentaries, Music and Industrial Videos and other projects, declined 18.1% (to 2,744 SD) for the quarter and down by 20.7% (to 10,157 SD) for the year.
